Carapace Quest
by magicksRampage
Summary: The actions of the Prospitian and Dersite agents in the medium up to the end of Act 4, particularly the Parcel Mistress and Jack Noir, put into verse.
1. Proem

In the realms around Skaia, the bright blue star,  
Surrounded by eldritch gods,  
Two Kingdoms were locked in eternal stalemate,  
Obliged to be at odds.

Prospit's gold orbiting close to the star,  
Its rulers carapaced white.  
The planet of Derse behind a dark veil,  
Unto their black shells no light.

Each with a moon that's chained to its surface,  
And covered in sprawling cities.  
Each with two towers housing two siblings,  
In perennial sleep they'd been dreaming.

At the centre of Skaia the Battlefield lay,  
Both armies were led by their King.  
The planets were ruled by the Black and White Queen,  
Each of them guarding her ring.

Nothing had changed for eternities now,  
But soon the dreamers would wake.  
And upon their arrival all of the medium,  
Derse and Prospit would quake.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Land of Wind and Shade

In the Land of Wind and Shade there was  
An Authority Regulator.  
His shell was black and with vigilant eyes  
He was looking for law violators.

'tween rocks of blue and seas of oil  
He discovered the wreck of a car.  
'Illegal parking!' he thought to himself,  
'This is going too far!'

He quickly applied a parking citation,  
But when he peeked through the glass.  
He saw a green box and an envelope there,  
And confiscated them fast.

Not far away a Parcel Mistress  
Was on her daily route.  
In pastel dyed clothes with shining white carapace,  
She was deliv'ring her goods.

Through cover she spied the enemy agent,  
And the parcels that he had claimed.  
She noticed that they were hers to deliver  
To a certain young man.

She gathered her courage and walked up to him  
And requested politely a cession.  
He said "No can do, these unauthorized parcels  
Have been made Dersite possession.

If you insist you must seek my superiors.  
The contraband they may release."  
The Mistress now showed him her authorization  
And claimed the first piece with ease.

The box though the Dersite refused to concede  
"For this one your licence's not good."  
He spoke, doffed his hat and absconded with haste.  
The mailwoman watched him distraught.


	3. Chapter 2 - Archagent Jack Noir

On Derse in his office the archagent stood,  
The Black Queen's most trusted serf.  
His carapaced face never knew a smile,  
Everything got on his nerves.

Jack Noir had recently caught  
A prisoner, a fatherly man.  
But he had caused naught but trouble for him,  
So the man was sent back where he came.

Archagent Jack loved to stab with his knives,  
And children he hated a lot.  
But nothing could one-up the hate, that he held,  
'Gainst the Queen and her sovereign plots.

She watched, very careful, so he would obey  
The dress code that she had made known.  
Ev'ry shell in the kingdom was forced to be dressed  
In the suit of a princess and clown.

Citations he filed were litt'ring his desk,  
And in between all of those  
Illegal contraband, that he received,  
A parcel, a green coloured box.

To the archagent came the Parcel Mistress  
From Prospit, the enemy state.  
To retrieve the package her dutiful goal.  
The mail could never be late.

The woman was nervous, the man made her scared.  
"I'm occupied. Can you not see?  
Now state your business, my patience is thin,  
What brings a white shell to me?"

She asked with a stutter "That package, the green one,  
I'd very much like to deliver."  
"I'd much rather stab you, than fill out the papers,  
Required for this to be given.

If you insist, I'll offer a deal though,  
I'll happily trade what I own,  
In exchange for two items, two symbols of royalty,  
Bring me your monarchs' crowns."

He gave her a sword and sent her away.  
'No way that she'll play along.  
Though if she tries, she'll be dead in her grave  
Before the next morning has come.'

Though he wondered, 'What reason has she,  
To be so obsessed with this case?'  
He sneaked a peek at the content inside,  
His eyes grew widened, amazed.


	4. Chapter 3 - Audience with Royalty

In heavy commotion the Parcel Mistress,  
Decided to go, get advice.  
She sought the White Queen in her palace on Prospit,  
Her leader, benev'lent and wise.

She told of the parcel, the deal with Noir.  
The Queen was listening close.  
"Your mission is crucial, and I must resign,  
If we're to defeat our foes.

I'll give you my crown, and my ring you shall have.  
In exile my destiny lies.  
Depart for the battlefield, seek the White King.  
He'll give you further advice."

This spoke the Queen and she did as she'd told.  
And no more a Queen she was called.  
The mailwoman leaving, prepared for departure  
From Prospit, the kingdom of gold.


	5. Chapter 4 - Rise of the Sovereign Slayer

On Derse in his office the archagent sat,  
Brooding and doing his job.  
He thought the Queen busy, hoped she wouldn't notice,  
His clothes were against her code.

The Black Queen was angered, her archagent thought,  
That he could escape from her rule.  
She burst through his door and spoke "What are you thinking?  
Where is your uniform, fool?

Your lack of obedience is angering me,  
As 'n archagent you're a disgrace.  
If you keep taunting, consider your options,  
I will show you your place."

She lifted the sword, she held, up to his throat,  
Her teeth showed with devilish glee.  
"Don't try to resist, Jack, you can't match my power,  
Play a lil' dress-up with me."

The archagent, threatened, reacted too quickly,  
Opened the box coloured green.  
In a matter of seconds, too fast for the eye,  
Reduced to ashes the Queen.

The former archagent claimed his Queen's ring,  
Its magic feeding him might.  
A Sovereign Slayer was born from Jack's hatred.  
His power had reached a new height.


	6. Chapter 5 - PM leaving for Skaia

Next to a shuttle, leaving for Skaia,  
The mailwoman 'bout to depart.  
Little she realized her ring would be stolen,  
Before her mission would start.

For she had been tailed by an enemy agent,  
A Courtyard Droll following her,  
Stealthily pilfered the ring of the Queen  
Acting on orders from Derse.

He sent his report to his Dersite superior,  
A Draconian Dignitary.  
"Good work, Droll." He said "Now bring me the ring.  
The Slayer demands it from me.

I'm expecting report from our agent on Skaia,  
The Hegemonic Brute.  
He has been tracing the White King's movements  
To claim his Sceptre, too.

And, by the way, are you still in that outfit?  
The Slayer has said it's passé."  
"I'd still rather wear it." The Courtyard Droll answered.  
His superior had nothing to say.

The scene had been watched by a dreamer of Prospit,  
The Witch of Space, now awake.  
She beat up the Droll, who had let his guard down,  
So the ring of the Queen she could take.


	7. Chapter 6 - The war on the Battlefield

At the centre of Skaia the Battlefield lay,  
Both armies were led by their King.  
The land had been ravaged and pure devastation  
Was all that the war'd ever bring.

In the hulk of his home, his fields were on fire,  
A Warweary Villein arose.  
An end to the war and the rule of the royals  
The goals he believed in, he chose.

Under his banner united the soldiers,  
Coloured both pale and ink.  
His Dersite descension meant nothing to him,  
He led them against the Black King.

"Down with the tyrant!" and "Long live the people!"  
The King heard the mob from afar.  
Betrayed by his army, no force but his sceptre,  
'tween him and the loss of the war.

But it wasn't the people that ended up killing  
The lord of the kingdom of Derse.  
For the Sovereign Slayer was stealing this privilege.  
'twas him that reached the King first.

No peace brought this murder, no freedom from tyranny,  
For destruction the Slayer would strive.  
He killed all the soldiers, the black and the white ones.  
Only the Villein survived.

Red Miles started sprouting from Jack and his ring,  
Like veins of blood in the sky.  
The battlefield quaked and machines of bellig'rence  
Were torn to tatters with might.


	8. Chapter 7 - Audience with Royalty (2)

Far from these incidents, seeking her King,  
The Parcel Mistress arrived.  
And quickly convinced of the mailwoman's mission,  
The monarch of Prospit complied.

Departing to join his partner in exile,  
No more an army he'd lead.  
With both royals' crowns the Mistress was ready,  
Her part of the bargain complete.

That's when the Brute jumped out of his cover,  
The ambush that he had prepared.  
She lost her grasp of the sceptre of Prospit.  
She'd walked right into the snare.

Later the sceptre was found by the Droll,  
To the Sovereign Slayer 'twas brought.  
And with its power further destruction  
Unto Skaia he wrought.

The Veil of meteors in orbit to Skaia,  
The call of the sceptre to heed,  
Started collapsing into the battlefield,  
Defence portals slowing their speed.


	9. Chapter 8 - AR in the Veil

In the Veil a Regulator of Derse,  
Had followed the leads of a crime,  
An illicit sanctum to hated deity,  
Unnoticed up to this time.

In the temple an agent the Dignitary  
Used ancient devices to make  
A guardian of pow'r for the planet of Earth,  
For a young girl's security's sake.

The Authority Reg'lator fled from the sanctum,  
To a lab that was floating nearby.  
He discovered a boy, who was sleeping alone,  
When he noticed the Reck'ning was nigh.

He sent the boy fly'ng on a board that he'd found,  
The Dersite himself stayed behind.  
Into the portals this meteor flew,  
Joining in exile his kind.


	10. Chapter 9 - The fall of Prospit's moon

The Sovereign Slayer's aggression continued,  
His next target Prospit itself.  
The kingdom of light did not stand any chance,  
Red Miles were piercing white shells.

The former White Queen had boarded her ferry,  
Watching from far, far away,  
How the kingdom she loved was falling to chaos,  
Under the murderer's sway.

He cut through the chain that was holding the moon,  
And out of its orbit it fell.  
Onto the battlefield, debris was raining,  
Turned into fiery hell.

With the moon fell the siblings that'd called it their home,  
But only the Witch was awake.  
The Heir of Breath, her brother, still dreaming,  
Their downfall to Skaia non-braked.

Down on the battlefield winning the duel,  
The courier beheaded the Brute.  
Through his device she summoned the Slayer.  
And to the concourse he flew.

The crowns were presented, the bargain was honoured,  
The parcel of green was transferred.  
In time she delivered the pack to its owner,  
Fulfilling that duty of hers.


	11. Chapter 10 - What's inside the box

In golden pyjamas the Heir of Breath,  
Had landed upon the field.  
A sister in similar clothes he had lost,  
The ring from her finger retrieved.

A stranger of white had given a package,  
A green coloured box from a friend.  
Containing a warrior with weapons of legend,  
A bunny his sister had sent.

The boy was approached by the Sovereign Slayer,  
Demanding the ring on his hand.  
Little he realized the dreamer of Prospit  
Had found himself a new friend.

With robotic enhancements and powerful weapons  
The plush toy had slain the Black Queen.  
But serving the Heir was its genuine purpose,  
Against any foe that he'd meet.

The Slayer retreated, the toy was too mighty,  
But vengeance he swore he would get.  
All life around Skaia, his hatred demanded,  
He would annihilate yet.


End file.
